Taylor speaks of a man who fell unconscious ten seconds
after an ounce of phenol had been ingested, and in three minutes
was dead. There is recorded an account of a man of sixty-four who
was killed by a solution containing slightly over a dram of
phenol. A half ounce has frequently caused death; smaller
quantities have been followed by distressing symptoms, such as
intoxication (which Olshausen has noticed to follow irrigation of
the uterus), delirium, singultus, nausea, rigors, cephalalgia,
tinnitus aurium, and anasarca. Hind mentions recovery after the
ingestion of nearly six ounces of crude phenol of 14 per cent
strength. There was a case at the Liverpool Northern Hospital in
which recovery took place after the ingestion with suicidal
intent of four ounces of crude carbolic acid. Quoted by Lewin,
Busch accurately describes a case which may be mentioned as
characteristic of the symptoms of carbolism. A boy, suffering
from abscess under the trochanter, was operated on for its
relief. During the few minutes occupied by the operation he was
kept under a two per cent carbolic spray, and the wound was
afterward dressed with carbolic gauze. The day following the
operation he was seized with vomiting, which was attributed to
the chloroform used as an anesthetic.
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